Video: Space Balloon launch and flight

Thanks to Billy Huggins For editing this awesome video documenting the 

preperation and flight of the Space Balloon.

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Flight Data

We have collected data from the barometer and made these graphs.

We noticed something odd with the temperature. Notice the spike near the apex of the balloon's flight. We aren't sure exactly why this happened, but it's very interesting!

UPDATE:
After a quick refresher from our fifth grade earth science class, we were reminded that our balloon would have passed through the ozone layer from about 25,000 to 30,000 m. The ozone layer absorbs sunlight which accounts for the warmer temperatures. It is fascinating that the temperature changed as much as 60 degrees F in just a few minutes. Its one thing to learn this in the classroom but to hold the equipment in my hands that had just passed through the ozone layer and the stratosphere collecting our own data adds a whole new element of understanding. This understanding is what we hoped to convey to the elementary students that we involved in our project.

Screen Shots From Flight

Here are a few screenshots from the video footage.  

Westside Elementary 

Greenbrier High School

Earth

Balloon Fragments

A quick look at the data reveals that the flight took about 111 minutes and reached an altitude of around 38,000 meters (124,000 feet or 24 miles).  It was subject to a low temperature of around -38 degrees Celsius.

We will post some better pictures and video as we process it.   

...And a Successful Retrieval!

We couldn't have asked for a better landing.  Right in the middle of a dry field not far from the road.  We even got to meet the nice farmer.    

The Camera was off but a quick peek at the footage revealed that we had great footage!  Stand by for some screenshots...

R2 said, in a series of beeps and squeaks, that is was cold and dark up there.

We have a Landing!!!!

After a stressful hour with no GPS readings, we picked up the signal again as the payload began its descent!!

We will have to do some research to see why we did not get readings at higher altitude.  Likely a temperature issue or maybe it was not in contact with the satellites.

We didn't hear from the Space Balloon for over an hour while it was at altitude.  We started to get readings again as it descended. The trajectory was pretty close to the projected path from the computer model and the flight was a little shorter. 

AND WE HAVE A LANDING!!

Looks like the space balloon landed in a field not far from a road.  We were actually hoping for a little more exciting retrieval but we are not complaining.  We are about 20 minutes away!!  Stay Tuned...

Successful Launch!

The launch today went down without a problem. We are on the road tracking it, but we haven't gotten a signal in the last hour or so.  We had to make a last minute change and install the GPS unit on the outside of the parcel.  It will be exposed to below freezing temps. Our fingers crossed in hopes that the GPS will send another signal.

Arduino with Barometer/Altemeter Temperature gauge powered by a 9volt battery.

The Guts!

Greenbrier Westside Elementary ready to start the countdown!

10...9...8....

LAUNCH DAY TOMORROW !

Launch Day Tomorrow! 9am

Latest Projected Flight Plan using computed generated model.  

This is one of the shortest projected model flights.  We are hoping for a farmland landing.  Hoping the prevailing winds keep us away from the Mississippi River and Downtown Memphis!

Watch this blog and our twitter @ghsballoon for live updates during the launch, chase and recovery!

Pre-Launch Day

Less than 24 hours remains before the day of the launch and we are ironing out the last few wrinkles in our plan. We are running through equipment checks, charging batteries and making sure that everything works properly.

Today we reported our flight plans with the Arkansas Notam (Notice to Airmen) Office of the FAA.  They insuructed us to notify the Little Rock Flight Standards office who instructed us to notify the Little Rock Air Traffic Control, who directed us to Texas Air Traffic Control Where we got clearance to launch.  We will  report to Little Rock and Memphis ATC a few minutes before the launch.   *Note to any prospective baloon launchers... Start this process a few days before your projected launch date.*

Attaching the payload Lanyard to the neck of the balloon.  The Balloon is made of a thin lightweight material similar to a medical latex glove.  When handling the balloon, we use latex gloves to keep the oils from out skin from deterioriating the baloon material.  The neck is made of stronger material.  We inserted a pvc sleeve inside the neck to pass the helium hose through and attached the lanyard to this sleeve with zipties.    

We reworked the payload parcel.  We used two faucet insulators which sandwich a piece of plexiglass that holds the camera mount and gps unit.  We connected the camera and GPS together to make sure that in case of total payload failure, the camera stays with the GPS.

No trip to the outer reaches would be complete without an R2 unit to keep us away from the dark side.     

Pre Flight Briefing at Westside Elementary

Pre Flight Briefing today at Greenbrier Westrside Elementary.

Preparing the Weather Balloon

The balloon that we will be using is a 600g 20ft diameter weather balloon that holds about 50-100 cubic feet of gas. The process that we will be following is depicted in this video.

Weather Balloon

The GHS EAST program will be launching a camera, GPS, and instruments to collect data into the outer reaches of the atmosphere. In order to do so we will be using a 20ft weather balloon. This balloon weighs 600g and will hold 50-100 cubic feet of helium. When we launch it at earths surface it will have a diameter of about 6ft. As it rises, the lower air pressure allows the helium inside the balloon to expand stretching the balloon to around 20ft. At around 30,000 meters (20 miles) the balloon will burst from the pressure and the payload will fall back to earth.

20 ft weather balloon

We expect the flight to take around 2 hours and recent trajectory forecasts predict that the landing will be somewhere between Jonesboro, AR and Memphis,TN.

Our anticipated launch date is November 15 2013.

High Altitude Camera Test

After getting our helium canister I noticed that it was almost empty. Instead of letting all that good helium go to waste I decided to do a few test with it. I filled 4 large trash bags with the remaining helium and tied about 300 Ft of string to the trash bags. Then with a large amount of tape I secured the Gopro to the base of the trashbags. Then I took it to the back yard and allowed the camera to rise.

Photo from about 200 ft up

When I began to pull the balloon back in the string fell and became caught in a tree. Not wanting to lose the camera for good I called upon my grandfathers trusty pellet gun to breach the trash bags and safely return it to the ground.

Balloon 35 ft up with string caught in tree

Flight Trajectory Prediction

Using a program designed to predict the flight of a balloon we have been recording data in order to find an average landing zone. These are the recorded flight from the last few days

Path of the Weather Balloon (Coordinates)

Predicted coordinates of Day 4 flight

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

After finding the average coordinates of the landing point we looked them up on Google maps and...

It landed in the Mississippi River

Equipment Inventory and Weigh-in

Calculating Total Weight of the Balloon Payload.  Contents include a GoPro Hero3 Camera, a SPOT GPS,  Parachute and a sturdy Styrofoam cooler retrofitted to hold the camera and GPS.  Total Payload is coming in at around 3.625 lbs.   

The SPOT GPS is used primarily as a safety tracking device for hikers or outdoors men.  It has an emergency signal that can be activated to notify friends or authorities if trouble arises.  It has a check-in feature that sends a regular signal that can be tracked online or with an app. We will use this tracking feature to follow our balloon in flight and retrieve it when it lands.    

The GoPro Hero3 Camera is a tiny high-resolution video and still camera that shoots amazing quality footage.  It is used mainly by outdoor adventurers and athletes.  It has a waterproof, shockproof casing and comes with many adjustable mounts.  It has the capability to take hi-res video and still shots at the same time and record them on a 64Gb Micro SD card.      

At an altitude of  60,000-120,000 feet (18-37 km) the balloon will explode from the increased internal pressure and the parachute will deploy as the payload falls back to earth.   

We are constructing a case from a sturdy, lightweight Styrofoam cooler.  The case needs to protect the equipment from high winds and low temperatures at higher altitudes as well as potential hard landings or water landings.  

GHS EAST Space Balloon

This is the chronicles of a Greenbrier High School (Greenbrier, Arkansas) EAST Project to launch a weather balloon into near space. We will document the trip with video and photos using a GoPro Hero3 camera and track its movement online with a SPOT GPS.  We will gather Altitude, and Temperature data using an Arduino Uno with a barometer component.  Projected Launch Date is November 15, 2013.